COOK, DWIGHT WILLIAM
REMAINS RETURNED 06/94 IDENTIFIED 10/95
Name: Dwight William Cook
Rank/Branch: O2/US Air Force
Unit:
Date of Birth: 08 July 1948
Home City of Record: Center Point IA
Loss Date: 21 September 1972
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 191900N 1030900E (UG056368)
Status (in 1973): Killed In Captivity
Category: 1
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F4D
Refno: 1926
Other Personnel In Incident: Rogert W. Carroll Jr. (missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 June 1990 from one or more of the
following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W.
NETWORK with material clipped from several notated files.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: Roger Carroll Jr. was born in Dallas, Texas and moved to Kansas
City, Missouri when he was six years old. The oldest child, Roger was very
fond of his younger sister and brother. He was raised in a Christian home,
was an honor student, and active in sports. Roger knew from an early age
that he wanted to be a pilot.
Roger entered the University of Kansas to study aviation engineering. While
at KU, Roger joined the Air Force and became a navigator on B-47 and B-52
aircraft. Wanting to be a pilot still, Roger took pilot training and earned
his wings flying T-38 and F-100 aircraft.
After one tour in Vietnam, Roger returned to the States to train other young
pilots until he again took training himself, this time on the F-4 Phantom
fighter/bomber jet. His second tour of Vietnam began in early 1972. He told
his parents, "If anything ever happens to me, don't come looking for me. You
won't find me. The aircraft is such a bomb that if one hits the ground or
something hits it, it just explodes."
Maj. Carroll was assistant to the commander, and did not ordinarily fly
combat missions, but begged for the chance to fly, and was allowed to fly
twice-weekly missions. On September 21, 1972, Carroll was sent on a mission
over the strategic Plain of Jars region in Laos. His weapons/systems officer
was 1LT Dwight W. Cook, a young Air Force officer.
The Plain of Jars region of Laos had for years been an intense area of
struggle between the communist Pathet Lao and the Royal Lao armed forces.
Millions of U.S. dollars had been secretly committed to the strengthening of
anti-communist strongholds in the Plain of Jars for some years. About one
year before Carroll and Cook were shot down in this area, Nixon's secret
campaign in Laos had become public. The area had been defended with the help
of U.S. aircraft; the anti-communist troops, primarily a secret CIA-directed
force comprised of some 30,000 indigenous tribesmen, were, in part, kept
resupplied by CIA.
Because Laos was "neutral" under the terms of the Geneva convention, and
because the U.S. continually stated they were not at war with Laos (although
we were regularly bombing North Vietnamese traffic along the border and
conducted assaults against communist strongholds thoughout the country at
the behest of the anti-communist government of Laos), and did not recognize
the Pathet Lao as a government entity, the nearly 600 Americans lost in Laos
were never recovered.
During the mission, Carroll's aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire and
crashed. Roger's prediction was correct. The largest piece of aircraft
remaining was no larger than three feet across.
A week after the aircraft crashed, a search party found several pieces of
flight clothing and a human hip socket at the site. They found
identification that belonged to Cook, but it was evident that the enemy had
reached the plane first. Carroll and Cook were classified as having "died in
captivity." It is unclear whether the two were captured and later died, were
executed on the spot, or perhaps tortured and mutilated as was sometimes
deemed the punishment for captured pilots. Neither Carroll nor Cook were
promoted after their loss incident, which seems to indicate the U.S. has
positive information that they were killed quickly.
The Defense Intelligence Agency further expanded Carroll's and Cook's
classification to include an enemy knowledge ranking of 1. Category 1
indicates "confirmed knowledge" and includes all personnel who were
identified by the enemy by name, identified by reliable information received
from escapees or releasees, reported by highly reliable intelligence
sources, or identified through analysis of all-source intelligence.
By 1980, Carroll and Cook had been classified killed in action because there
was no verified information that they were alive. But the Department of
Defense still believes the Lao hold the answers to their fate.
The Pathet Lao stated that they would release the "tens of tens" of American
prisoners they held only from Laos - when agreements were reached with the
U.S. to halt their bombing there. Agreements were never made, and no
American held in Laos was released, even though nearly 600 Americans were
lost in Laos. Tragically, over 10,000 reports have been received by the U.S.
relating to the men missing in Southeast Asia, and many authorities believe
hundreds of them are alive today.
Roger Carroll's mother died in 1986, still believing her son was alive. The
Air Force has never fully informed Roger's family of the events of September
21, 1972.
----------------------------
[ssrep7.txt 02/09/93]
Senate Select Committee Report
SMITH 324 COMPELLING CASES
Laos Roger W. Carroll
Dwight D. Cook
(1926)
On September 21, 1972, Carroll and Cook were the crew on-board an
F-4D on a combat operation over the Plain of Jars area of Xieng
Khouang Province, Laos. A forward air controller operating with
them observed them crash, apparently after being hit by hostile
antiaircraft fire. He saw no parachutes prior to or after their
aircraft impacted and heard no beepers. Both airmen were declared
missing in action.
First Lieutenant Cook's blood chit was reportedly recovered from
the crash site and sent to the Joint Personnel Recovery Center on
November 11, 1972 and there were human remains reportedly seen at
the crash site at the time the blood chit was recovered.
American POWs returning during Operation Homecoming were unable to
provide information on their precise fate. They were later
declared killed in action, body not recovered, based on a
presumptive finding of death.
In 1983, the Joint Casualty Resolution Center (JCRC) received
hearsay information of a crash site in the area of this loss
incident. In 1986 JCRC interviewed another source in Thailand who
reported having been at a crash site in Laos at the location of
this loss incident. The aircraft was scattered over a wide area.
The source reported seeing bones at the site and these were left in
place. JCRC received more reports in 1987 and 1988 describing a
crash site with human remains and artifacts. All these reports
were believed to correlate to this loss incident.
------------------
[324.txt 12/29/92]
Bob Smith
New Hampshire
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
U.S. POW/MIAs WHO MAY HAVE SURVIVED IN CAPTIVITY
Prepared by the Office of Senator Bob Smith
Vice-Chairman, Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs
December 1, 1992
Cook, Dwight W. USAF -identified as POW by Thai
returnees, 1973.
-possibly captured according to
NSA intercept correlation.
---------------------------
[bits1028.95 11/01/95]
NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF FAMILIES
FOR THE RETURN OF AMERICA'S MISSING SERVICEMEN
WORLD WAR II - KOREA - COLD WAR - VIETNAM
DOLORES ALFOND - VOICE/FAX (206) 881-1499
LYNN O'SHEA ---- VOICE/FAX (718) 846-4350
BITS 'N' PIECES OCTOBER 28, 1995
*************
ON OCTOBER 23, 1995 THE PENTAGON ANNOUNCED THE IDENTIFICATION OF 14
SERVICEMEN. THE NAMES OF THREE WERE WITHHELD AT THE REQUEST OF THE
FAMILIES. GROUP BURIALS WILL BE HELD AT ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
DURING THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER FOR: THE CREW OF AN AC130 LOST OVER LAOS
NOV. 24, 1969 - CAPT. EARL C. BROWN, LT. COL. RICHARD O GANLEY, MAJ.
MICHAEL D. BALAMONTI, MAJ. PETER R. MATTHES, CHIEF MASTER SGT. REXFORD
J. DE WISPELAERE, CHIEF MASTER SGT. CHARLES R. FELLENZ, CHIEF MASTER
SGT. LARRY I. GREWELL, AND CHIEF MASTER SGT. DONALD L. WRIGHT.
GX2527 - THE VERIFIED USAF AUTHENTICATOR CODE, BELONGS TO MAJOR PETER R.
MATTHES, SOON TO BE INTERNED AT ARLINGTON CEMETERY IN A GROUP BURIAL.
A SOURCE REPORTED TO THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF FAMILIES THAT NO REMAINS
ASSOCIATED TO PETER MATTHES WERE IDENTIFIED. TO US THAT MEANS THERE IS
NO EVIDENCE OF PETER MATTHES' DEATH. IN FACT, IDENTIFIABLE REMAINS
WERE RECOVERED FOR ONLY ONE CREWMAN. THE U.S. GOVERNMENT IS NOT PROVING
DEATHS, THEY ARE DECLARING DEATHS BY ASSOCIATION.
ANOTHER GROUP BURIAL SCHEDULED FOR NOVEMBER INVOLVES THE CREW OF A F 4-D
LOST SEPTEMBER 21, 1972 OVER LAOS. THE CREWMEN, ASSIGNED CASE NUMBER
1926, ARE - MAJ. ROGER W. CARROLL AND 1ST LT. DWIGHT W. COOK. WHAT
DOES OUR INTELLIGENCE SAY ABOUT THIS CREW? A STUDY COMPLETED, IN 1992,
BY THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY, FOR THE SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE SAID,
IN PART, OF CASE 1926 "THE 120TH AAA BATTALION OF THE 284TH AAA REGIMENT
SHOTDOWN ONE F 4 AND CAPTURED ONE OF THE PILOTS AT 1556Z ON 26 SEPTEMBER
72. DIA C ONCURS WITH THE INITIAL [BLANK] CORRELATION FOR THIS CASE.
THE [BLANK] INDICATES AT LEAST ONE OF THE CREW WAS CAPTURED AND ONE WAS
DEAD. THIS INFORMATION HAS ALREADY BEEN INCORPORATED IN AN ALL SOURCE
POSITION FOR THIS REFNO. THIS RECENT REVIEW OF THE [BLANK] DID NOT ADD
ANYTHING NEW TO REFNO 1926." OUR SOURCE REFUSED TO COMMENT ON THE WHO
WAS IDENTIFIED FROM THIS FLIGHT. AN INDIVIDUAL BURIAL WILL BE HELD FOR
COL. IVAN D. APPLEBY, LOST OCTOBER 7, 1967.